Massa Dembele – Mezana Dounia (Izniz Recordings, 2017)
Mezana Dounia is the first album recorded by jeli (praise singers, social commentators and historians, also known as griots) musician Massa Dembele from Burkina Faso. Dembele is a well-known surname within the jeli community.
Massa Dembele writes songs about embracing diversity within Burkina Faso’s ethnic groups, calls out to put an end to forced marriages of young women, the loss of superficial youth beauty, fear of the modern world, betrayal, the way of the jeli, and Massa’s grandmother Yedini.
Mezana Dounia is an acoustic album that highlights Massa Dembele’s gratifying vocals and the hypnotic kamele ngoni (a West African harp-lute). Massa Dembele recorded the album in Burkina Faso’s capital and played all the instruments, including percussion instruments such as calabash, jembe and bara drums.
Two guests appear on Mezana Dounia, Ali Diara on bala (balaphon) and Mamadou Dao on folikan flute.
The original lyrics in Mande are available in English, translated by Massa Dembele and Sarah Lajoie Flyng Ouédraogo at www.izniz.com/massa-demebele.pdf.
Buy Mezana Dounia
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
